| Author: | Skoeldberg, K. |
| Title: | Through a glass, darkly. A critique of Sandelands and Drazin |
| Journal: | Organization Studies
1992 : VOL. 13:2, p.245-259 |
| Index terms: | ORGANIZATION THEORY LANGUAGES PHILOSOPHY SCIENCE METHODOLOGY |
| Language: | eng |
| Abstract: | Arguments are presented that Sandelands and Drazin's paper "On the language of organization theory" as an attempt to regenerate organization theory by subverting its language fails. Generally speaking, the errors in the paper spring from reductionist fallacies, typical of analytical philosophy. Its recommendation that organizational research be confined to perceptions of individual actions emerges as mistaken on meta-scientific grounds, and unrealistic in practice. The concepts of organization and environment are "hypothesized", and so are fallacious. A number of other methodological problems of the paper are mentioned and discussed. The need for further research and meta-scientific studies is indicated. |
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